Vietnamese Tofu-Noodle Lettuce Wraps

Description:

Here we toss rice noodles with crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs, tofu and a light, sweet, tart and salty Vietnamese dressing flavored with fish sauce and wrap the mixture in lettuce leaves. For a vegetarian version, use reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari in place of the fish sauce. Pass the mixture, lettuce leaves and sauce separately so everyone can make their own wraps.

Ingredients:

2 ounces thin rice noodles, or rice sticks (see Note)

1/4 cup water

5 teaspoons fish sauce, (see Note)

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

8 ounces firm or extra-firm seasoned tofu, thinly sliced

1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks

1 cup snow peas, trimmed and very thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

8 large leaves green-leaf lettuce

Preparation:

1

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add rice noodles (or rice sticks) and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Gently squeeze noodles to remove most of the water.

Coarsely chop the noodles and combine in a large bowl with tofu, carrot, snow peas, basil and mint. Pour the sauce over the salad and toss to combine. To serve, spoon about 1/2 cup salad onto each lettuce leaf and roll up.

Tips:

Ingredient notes: Dried thin rice noodles (or rice sticks) are also called "bun" or "vermicelli-style" rice noodles. Look for them in the Asian section of well-stocked super markets or an Asian-foods market.

Fish sauce is a pungent Southeast Asian condiment made from salted, fermented fish. Find it in the Asian section of large supermarkets and in Asian specialty markets.